Elder Law Issues

Happy birthday to Fleming & Curt, PLC, partner Robert Fleming. Now that he’s just turned 72, it’s time for him to start thinking about required minimum distributions (RMDs).

One of the occupational hazards for estate planners is that it’s hard to just have a happy birthday celebration. We have to pay attention to the side effects of reaching a certain age. In this case, the “certain age” is 73 — just one year away and requiring some planning. That’s especially true since the required beginning date (when RMDs are mandatory) is actually a whole year long (sort of).

So, as we explain, if you’re also turning 72 anytime this year — you need to be prepared for the RMDs that will begin next year. Or will they?

Supporting autonomy is an important goal for fiduciaries. Whether acting as guardian (of the person), conservator (of the estate), agent or trustee, a fiduciary‘s role should focus on the principal’s self-determination.

That can be a challenge. The first difficulty may be figuring out what the principal would want — or would have wanted, if they had anticipated the current situation. And then there’s the problem of fiduciaries who disagree with their principals’ wishes.

There’s plenty of information available describing the fiduciary duty in a financial environment. There’s far less information or direction when the fiduciary duty involves health care, social decisions, placement and the like. But the duties are similar in both contexts.

In this week’s podcast, we discuss the fiduciary’s duty to support autonomy of the principal. Join us for a discussion of that duty, and what supporting autonomy (and self-determination) actually means. We talk about how we make decisions when we act as fiduciary, and what you should do when you act in a similar role.

This week we dusted off both our crystal and Magic8 balls, and we are prepared to tell you about estate tax changes in 2026. Or, at least, what might change. Well, they might not change. Or something altogether different might happen

Do you care? Yes, if your estate is worth more than about $6 million (or, if you’re married, your combined estate is more than double that figure). According to one online calculator, that means something less than 1.3% of all Americans.

Of course, many Americans are keen on believing they might one day be multimillionaires. And they might. But they won’t have estate tax issues until they do. Or if they live in one of the handful of estates that imposes a state estate tax.

Confused? We’ll help you navigate the calculations.

Collecting information from prospective clients can be a challenge. Sometimes clients evince an understandable reluctance to share details. But we really do need full information in order to give good advice.

Whether we meet with clients who want to plan their estate or with the family members who will administer those plans, we ask for copies of account statements and full details. We’re collecting information we need in order to understand what needs to be done. Also, we can figure out how to accomplish the client’s goals most efficiently. We can even figure out what information we don’t have and still need. That’s why we ask.

Many of our clients ask about “green burial.” One problem with the request: there’s little agreement about what it means. But Arizonans do have some options. And soon they’ll have one new option.

In this podcast episode, we talk about what green burial means in Arizona, and what’s available. We discuss cremation and a new version of that long-time favorite. “Human composting” is coming to Arizona in a few months, based on a new state law.

Supplemental Security Income — SSI, to everyone who receives the benefit — has horribly complicated rules. But recent announcements from the Social Security Administration promise to liberalize those rules dramatically. The new SSI rules should make it easier to qualify for benefits. More importantly, they should make it easier to manage and report relevant financial items that affect the benefits.

The key changes in the new SSI rules will take place at the end of September. They mostly revolve around the concept of “in-kind support and maintenance” (ISM). That concept reduces the SSI benefit under some circumstances where another person (a parent, for example, or a special needs trust) provides food and/or shelter to an SSI recipient.

In this podcast episode, we discuss the new SSI rules, and how they should benefit many recipients. We look forward to seeing how those benefits actually play out in individual cases.

“Incentive trusts.” It’s a term we hear from time to time in planning estates. What clients and advisors usually mean to describe is a trust that gives the beneficiary some incentives to behave, well, better. Like getting married or having children. Or giving up bad habits. Or finishing an education.

Are incentive trusts a good idea? And do they work?

Our lived experience suggests that the usefulness of the incentive trust is … mixed. Sometimes they provide an incentive. Often they make the trustee’s job difficult. How should the trustee judge the beneficiary’s compliance? Will the trust alienate the beneficiary? Is the incentive good enough to urge behavior changes? Did the settlor really intend to punish non-compliance?

In this podcast episode we discuss incentive trusts and our experience with them. Join us.

You’ve scheduled a signing appointment for your estate planning documents. What should you expect that appointment to look like? And how long will it take?

In this week’s podcast episode, we discuss the signing appointment. We also review the quaint practices lawyers still utilize — involving wet ink and actual paper! And we explain why you still have to come to the office (in nearly every case) rather than just taking your printed-out documents to your bank to sign and notarize. But the good news: we’re a lot of fun, and we’ll make the signing appointment quick, easy and productive.

You signed your financial power of attorney! Great! Now your agent can sign anything you could sign, right?

Well, hold on. The IRS has special rules for using your power of attorney. They can be confusing and persnickety.

If we knew exactly when you will become incapable of signing your own tax forms AND which tax forms to sign, we’d be set. But we mostly have to give your agent the best tools we can, and have them figure out how to use those tools if and when the time comes. Let us explain.

You may have read news stories about conservatorship proceedings. A lot of reports address the problems faced by famous people subject to conservatorships. Maybe you’ve seen stories about Britney Spears,  Amanda Bynes, Michael Oher, and/or Wendy Williams.

But did you understand that the very word “conservatorship” means different things in different states? We talk about the variable uses of the term. We also help you distinguish between guardianship and conservatorship in news stories — and clear up the common misconception that they are the same thing. They are not the same, and the terms are not even the same from state to state. We try to demystify the variable use of the term.